Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1887-06-12

~ !, AstsfsAS a. 1rEutzk he found thar
ms place q bznsshruent was Z, - V,av-
eB9ia1sk. 70 reach which reouires :
SUI further journey due north ~ tF,rrs
thousand miles. tmo thousand az vrhffi,
we're % Dc made il the small stesnlers
On the Lena river, and the last then.
sand on foot. .--.
After the doctor hsd been sent swaw
from his native place his wife had -.
voted al her energies 70 secure : r..lr-
don Tor him. She might. had she essn-
-eBfed 20 forget her vows. have i5vs-3 !.
lie Of esse and comfort IN RsIasia ~
the IspTaynik. nov that her ht5star5
vas out d the way a. surely - II ~
had oeeu dead. gFew. holder 10 his al
vanees
Bat the wife was Ioval and setsr-
mtaed q claim the right Of ever vifs
even IN Russia, % share her bnst,s.,,sss
exile To this living death ia SiEer;a
many hundreds Of noble A. vveff -
ign0oie Russian women have cgass-
Grated themselves. soon the xouno
wife received permission 4, fe,fIs5,~ hs-
husband, whom she then sunysossl ba-l
been hamished 70 Irkutsk. II was Wrir,-
ter when the devoted woman left Mo-
Gov on her long journey OF three
thousand mites across the dreary viii
tened steppes.
a PITTFUL SIGHT N Russia.
Il was the love in her heart alone
and the knowledge q the life she bore
beneath 7, perhaps, that made the frail
Young wife a heroine. The Journey
took her over three n0nths to accom-
plish, though fortunately Il had not 10
De done on foot. Siedges always ac-
company the conveys u ex:ies TO carry
the women aud children and those who
fail exhausted or sick By the way. vet
even irall women cannot always remain
IN the sleds. The cold Is often 20 IN
tense that they must get out and walk
~ order 20 restore their benumbed cir
eulation.
| have often seen the sorrowtul pI-
griins. Driving in my sled. suddenly
the strange chilling sound Of the ciank
Of chains would fall upon NV ears. l
would look out from my sheltered place
Of comfort upon the pifiIess white
plains, and there. amid the drifting
snow storm, ! would descry the prs
oners. The men would be traH1ping
on slowly and painfully ahead. their
knees hung about with elanking chains.
Following them would come 4 group
Of women and children, some Of them
not too warmly clad, making their way
painfully through the snow and shiT-
ering cold. Following them came the
slgdi for the sick and the women, the
entire cortege being guarded by COM
pany Of Cossacks with fixed bayonets.
they, too, shivering with cold march
ing stolidly on, and usually being as
kindly disposed toward their prisoners
as possible
With such a convoy OF exaes as these
whom ! saw so frequently on their
weary march. the wife Of the poor Yer
choiausk exile made her long tourney,
and finally. after three months. reached
the banks OF the frozen Augard. Then
she saw the gittering domes Of the
many churches Of Eastern Siberin's
capital OF lrkutsk. There she hoped
to find her husband. and we can wen
imagine the joy Of the fair Young erea-
ture as she wandered on in fall view of
the " beautiful city Of the steppe. in
the thought that ia q few hours she
would be once more ciasped in the arms
of him she loved 50 much. and that
thenceforlh the lot of each would be
made more easy TO bear ia the sweet
Of love.
But, alasl the young husband had
been sent on % NeFrh0iau-k three
thousand miles nearer 70 the Arctic
Ocean. This was the news the young
wife heard when she reached Irkutsk.
IL was as II. after travelling in midW.n-
ter over a distance as far as from New
York 10 Montana on foot or IN sleds,
she had then 20 make journey OF
equal length due north up 10 the Great
Slave Lake that feeds the Mackenzie
River. The further journey would
have 20 be made ia sieds as long as the
winter lasted and then on horseback
over the great Nerchoiausk mountains
in the springtime before she reached
the place wh re her hg ,band dwelt.
The shock and the disappointment
proved too much for the poor trusting
wiie's strength. which had been kept
up SO long by love and hope during her
weary Journey. and which now com
plctely gave way The end bad come.
but the joyful meeting was not % be
in this world. She fingered few
weeks. aud then died OF a broken heart.
She was buried. and with her the leg
acy OF the love She had borne in bliss
ful hope over the drrary desolation Of
the sIeppcs.
II was many months after her death
that the sad news reached the poor eX-
lie in Nerchniausk Of the devotion and
death a his beautiful wife. Poor fell
low he seemed 70 carry With him on
his face the traces of q hopeless sorrow.
lie spoke little OF himself, aud his only
consolation Ia his ended life his life in
death, was perhaps In attending 70 the
wants Of the sick and diving in his
little world of desolation on the banks
Of the Yaua. to which he had been
condemned by the plottings OF vicious
official
A sad story. but a true one-the only
one Of a Siberian eXile's sorrow that |
learned while IN the north, because
my mission compelled me 20 travel
quickly towards the dreaded delta OF
the Lena where De Long and his
Inflated companions had misera5ly
perished.
But he had still more SORROWS tobear.
He. too, weary Of waiting for release,
had consented 70 Join the four who
had determined 90 make a dash for
freedom by way OF the Polar Ocean
and Behring Struts 60 ALASKA and the
Pacific slope. where he hoped % begin
life anew In this he differed from his
fellow exllss. ! remember saying 70
Leon,
Be- And when You get 90 America you
will begin lie anew leave your Social
isliC drCamings and your life OF oPpo-
sltion - The Gar.
No" answered Leon. shall
be back In Russia year after my es-
cape
The attempt was made, bat ended In
hopeless disappointment
They are condemned for life 20 the